So, I've had this car for about 2 years now, and it's at about 140k miles. For a long time, atleast 18 months, I've had problems of the on-and-off, come-and-go, think-its-fixed-then-it-comes-back sort regarding my charging system. Wellp, about a week ago the car died after a ~95 mile trip at night. I noticed the dashlights and headlights dimming for atleast 10 miles before the car finally croaked 1 block (!) from my destination. Turned the key, and the battery had no juice, so we pushed it the rest of the way and had it towed later.

While I'm at work, my Dad was taking a look at the car, and noticed that one of the wires going into the alternator (yellowish-whitish in color) wasn't connected, so he crimped a new connector on there, plugged it back in, gave the car a jump and it ran for a couple days, until I parked it after having driven home (only ~5 miles) at night and it didn't start the next day.

So, we have another look under the hood and notice that the entire alternator wobbles a lot. We tighten the bolt that holds it to the car, adjust the belt while we're at it, jump it, blah blah etc. Car doesn't start again a day or two later.

We take out the voltmeter, unplug the negative from the main terminals on the battery, and read about 12 volts after the car has run for awhile. We measure with the negative back on and get around 15 volts with the car running. Seems fine. Then we turn on my headlights, and the volt meter goes down a little bit. Turn on highbeams, it goes down a bit more. Turn on aftermarket fog lamps, and it goes down some more. With all the lights on, the alternator only reads around 13.5 volts.

We take out the fuse for my aftermarket stereo, and unplug the hot wire to my aftermarket fog lamps from the fuse box, and I take the car home that night and unplug the battery after parking. Doesn't start in the morning.

So here we are, after days of getting rides, borrowing cars, and generally BSing around, basically where we started. The car seems to poop out the morning after having driven at night before parking (headlights on). We're completely perplexed about where to go next with this car, and can't think of anything more to try.

Here's a list of stuff I've done with my car since purchasing it 2 years ago:

• New alternator; battery; starter; all belts; external fuel pump & filter; ignition control module; front brake pads & one caliper; overdrive relay; fuel pump relays
• Aftermarket stereo (not speakers) and aftermarket fog lamps (fuse #3)
• Oil & filter changed around 4k miles ago.
• Possibly more stuff that I'm forgetting

Stuff that I know is wrong/not working:

• Wire to license plate light severed at rear door hinge
• In-tank fuel pump not working
• Rear window defrost randomly comes on while car is on

Thanks for reading, hopefully this was thorough enough and the problem well-described. Will check back in this thread in a day or two.

 

The one thing that you have not looked at is the battery itself. Sounds to me like it does not hold a charge anymore. I know it is only 2 years old but I have seen them go bad in that short amount of time. Take it to AutoZone and have it tested.

 

+1. I would get the battery checked. Also what amperage alt is installed? The alt may be overloaded with the aftermarket electrical equipment that has been added. The '84 alt was only about 55 amps as I recall. With a lot of nighttime driving I would want an 80-amp alt at least.

The wobbly alt is most likely the mounting bushings. They get old and the pulley no longer lines up with other pulleys. Belts get loose and you lose charging. Tightening the mounting bolts doesn't usually fix it.

 

Battery is only around 9 months old actually, should I take it in anyways?

And I've disconnected the hot wire to the aftermarket fog lamps, and pulled the fuse to the aftermarket stereo; car still has same problems.

Alternator was wobbly because the nut on the bolt mounting it to the car was loose. Tightened it, alt is no longer wobbly; car has same problems. Not sure what amperage the alt is rated for. I don't have the original packaging, don't know how to check the amp rating. In any case, the aftermarket stuff is unplugged, so, it should work fine now, right?

 

Had a similar (but somewhat less frustrating) experience with my '93 245. Have a look at the wiring harness that runs between the alternator and starter motor. You'll have to get underneath and it will be a messy endeavor - but that harness (several wires, 1 very heavy conductor and two smaller conductors) takes a chemical and mechanical beating. On my car, the effect of 16years of oil laden crud and maybe a broken motor mount or two had hardened and displaced insulation on those wires making for a mangled mess and occasional short circuit. Once found and reworked - no more charging problems.

 

how many fuel filter are there on volvo 245 dl wagon 1986

 

Yes, you should take the battery in. Since you ran it all the way down, it's likely you killed it. Automotive batteries are not made to be deep cycled.

 

If you put a volt meter on the battery after the car has sat all night what is the voltage ? It should be between 11.5-12 volts. If not OK take the battery in and get a load test done on it. If that is OK then after you start it you should see 13.8-14 volts at the battery. If above 14 then maybe a bad diode and if under 13 maybe a bad voltage regulator. Of course this all assumes that the belt is tight and the terminals are clean and tight and the connections at the alternator are clean and tight. I can't recall but if the voltage goes down to 9 volts the ECU will stop working and the car will die. Please keep us posted.

 

 

Wow, haha, I haven't thought about this thread in over a year, until I got an e-mail the other day. I also haven't worked on the car in a similar amount of time, so, it's in much the state that it was when I made this thread, except that it's been sitting. Sambar Stag, I read your post today and immediately went outside to try it. The battery was dead, so I hooked it up to my truck and charged it; I got it to start after about 10 minutes. I'm not sure which warning light you're referring to in your post, so I'm assuming that you meant the battery light. It came on when I turned the key (along with around 4 other lights), and when the engine finally started, they all went off. So, which bulb should I be checking?

The thing with the battery:when I made this post 18 months ago, it was a 9-month-old battery. At the time, I was pretty damned certain that the battery was fine and that the problem lay elsewhere. Now, after sitting for a year or so, the battery could easily be boned, but I'm positive that I still have some other underlying issue.

 

My 88 244 dl had this same problem. we had it sitting for a couple of years and when I decided to get it running, obviously the battery was dead. So we brought it in and charged it overnight. But when working on it and cranking it, we drained the juice. So we decided th hook the charger up to the battery itself and charge it with the battery still connected. Well, we finally got it running a couple of days later and had the same problem you are having. The car would die when using the headlights. So after reading up on it, we found out we fried the diodes on the alternator. Alternator was shot. You can check the amperge by taking it out and checking the serial #, or model # w/e. Whether it be Bosch, AC Delco, or w/e, you can go to their site and check what the amperage is online. At least that is what I did. Hope this will be of some assistance.